CompUSA parking fiasco

[Miulang]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

Forget the sign; just put up a gate and make it validated parking only. There is no need for explanation then.

Miulang

[joshuatree]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

That is just too funny! So, how would would you walk off the lot WITH your vehicle? Push it? Tow it by rope?

The sign should read...

PARKING FOR
CompUSA CUSTOMERS ONLY
Do not leave property
without your vehicle
or it will be immediately
towed

Maybe it's a Tonka truck?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

So if you run off the property without your vehicle that's okay? How about skipping, roller blades, heely's, hmmm....

I think management better reword that sign before it gets out of hand.

[pzarquon]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

Gah. LikaNui brought this mess up in another thread and got me all grumpy again. I ended up back at Charlene Aldinger's lovely letter to CompUSA.

I have already begun to distribute this horrible story via the internet and have posted the account on FACEBOOK which was distributed to an additional 400+ recipients most of which are computer supply-using college students. It was distributed to all the members of the Pearl Harbor Rotary Club. (See attached email responses.) I do not intend to stop with my campaign against COMP USA until you refund the money to Lily Chou and Stacy Aldinger and discontinue your tow service with 24-7 Towing. The Rotary Club has offered to send it out nationally for a national boycott of COMP USA (see attached email).

I intend to alert the local Media, members of the House of Representatives, members of the State Senate, all Hawai?i Rotarians, Tourism offices, Consumer Protection Agencies, Better Business Bureaus, Complaints.com and every other avenue and source of consumer complaints available to me. [...]

I look forward to hearing from you today. I am available to pick up our reimbursement checks at noon today. Please call me when they are ready for pick up.

Sincerely,

Charlene Aldinger
Director of Public Relations
Bishop Museum
(808) 847-8271

Gods! Her ridiculous (both in concept and in ultimate execution) publicity campaign, and blatant extortion-ish threat of ruining CompUSA's business (!), just makes me want to go out and buy a stack of CompUSA CDRs that I don't need.

I hope and pray that in the final analysis, her stupidity is all that people remember about the fiasco. Indeed, several months later, I take small satisfaction from the fact that most Google results for her name now relate to her silly stunt, and that most of the adjacent commentary is... not complimentary. Though some of the sources of those results look kinda familiar. Heh. Smart people can "spread the word" online, too.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

You want to have fun? Call/write a letter to Bishop Museum. Say you are a neighbor that's going to have a big party and can your guests park at the museum. (Pick a busy day.) If they say "no" keep pushing. What's the odds it will come down to her to defend the museum?

Seriously, the thing that gets me is her job is in PR. Now maybe I'm wrong, but isn't one of a PR person's tasks to represent a company? To defend a business from community complaints? And here she is mouthing off about how wrong CompUSA is. It's clear from anyone who's been at the site that the parking belongs to CompUSA.

Oh, and if I was in charge of the museum, I'd be writing a letter of reprimand for signing the letter with her position. This is her personal vendetta. Don't go dragging the museum into this.

[LikaNui]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

Gah. LikaNui brought this mess up in another thread and got me all grumpy again.

Awww, I'm sorry if my joke to the newbie brought up bad memories, Ryan. But look how well it turned out -- this thread got revived, and Charlene will get more bad raps!

[Menehune Man]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

You want to have fun? (1) Call/write a letter to Bishop Museum. Say you are a neighbor that's going to have a big party and can your guests park at the museum. (Pick a busy day.) If they say "no" keep pushing. What's the odds it will come down to her to defend the museum?

(2)Oh, and if I was in charge of the museum, I'd be writing a letter of reprimand for signing the letter with her position. This is her personal vendetta. Don't go dragging the museum into this.

(1) Please don't. The museum had nothing to do with her problem.

(2) She was "spoken" to officially concerning the involving of the museum through her association.
And has been chided by many also. Definitely improper behavior.

Then again... we all lose it sometimes.

[dyasu]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

Does anyone else find it ironic that someone who's email signature reads "Director of Public Relations" is effectively ruining her own public image, along with the image of the Bishop Museum by writing such inane comments using her work-related email signature?

I chuckled when I first read it!

[scrivener]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

(2) She was "spoken" to officially concerning the involving of the museum through her association.
And has been chided by many also. Definitely improper behavior.

If Ryan's long quote is very recent, she's still using Bishop Museum's name in her communications about this. So maybe someone SHOULD call the museum just to give it the heads-up, at least.

[TuNnL]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

If Ryan's long quote is very recent, she's still using Bishop Museum's name in her communications about this. So maybe someone SHOULD call the museum just to give it the heads-up, at least.

Nah, as you can see here, Ryan’s long quote is from her original letter to Ken Elton. She has probably moved on, but I think Ryan’s point is her legacy will be her stupidity.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

(1) Please don't. The museum had nothing to do with her problem.

(2) She was "spoken" to officially concerning the involving of the museum through her association.
And has been chided by many also. Definitely improper behavior.

Then again... we all lose it sometimes.

You think that lady "lost it?" I say she went off the deep end into psycho land.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

(1) Please don't. The museum had nothing to do with her problem.

Oh, I understand that. But if you play your cards right, you could have forced her to be on the other side of the argument. That was what I was really trying to get at.

[Fritz]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

I have already decided to not shop at Compusa because of their return policy. It saves time when reading the Sunday Ad. to just toss the Compusa flyer on the "read already" pile. After reading this, it makes me want to go there and buy something.

[Star of Gladness]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

Being a tow truck driver is a rough life. I have known a few repo men and tow truck driver owners. I have nothing but respect for these guys who do a real DIRTY JOB. They are right up there on the list of dangerous jobs just like Alaska crab fishermen and ice road truckers.

24/7 is probably a regular guy just trying to feed his family and pay his bills like everybody else and is sick and tired of being threatened (by lawbreakers who think they deserve special treatment) with fists, knives, guns, and political contacts in the State of Hawaii.

I also heard that tow truck drivers have a code that if/when they ever get towed by another rival company, they never ask for any discounts, they just pay the fine and move on with life.

I hope 24/7 sues Bishop Estate for harassment and as a direct result Ms Aldinger loses her job.

[LikaNui]

Re: CompUSA parking fiasco

They are right up there on the list of dangerous jobs just like Alaska crab fishermen and ice road truckers.

Yeah, if you believe those two "reality TV" shows you're watching. Personally, I think the really dangerous jobs belong to cops and firemen and soldiers, like that.

24/7 is probably a regular guy

Or, maybe, "probably" not? You've got a 50-50 chance of being right, since you're guessing.

I also heard that tow truck drivers have a code

And a secret handshake too!